Its obvious that this is the worst time of year to do that with the holidays coming up. Usually most are called back after a few months, but this time its different. This time instead of laying off a few here and there, they have laid off sixty people. They are shutting down some of the machines in production from lack of business.
Ian works on those machines, along with 14 others on various shifts. A month ago it was said they were understaffed in the shop and three people needed to be hired. This month they wanted four people laid off. Make sense? No, I don't think so. Ians boss said NO to laying off people in the shop. He said everyone would cut out overtime hours so that everyone could stay the duration of this lean time. Ian has seniority on a lot of folks in the shop so the plant would have to shut down for him to lose his job. Lets hope it doesnt come to that.
I feel for the ones that have to endure this time without jobs. Anyone who says the economy is getting better has not been paying attention. Ians place of work makes cartons for various brands of beer, Coca Cola and Pepsi products. If the economy was getting better why are these sales down so much. Yeah. Exactly. Because people are making tea and Kool Aid at home or drinking water.
We will be okay, we do this every year. It gets lean about this time of year. We make it through to the beginning of the year, Ian gets his vacation checks in by the end of January, except I bet we have to wait a bit longer this time. I bet they hold on to that money as long as they can. Then it will be tax return time and we will have our relief fund so to speak.
Christmas is not stressful here anymore. We never exchange gifts between adults. Its just not necessary. If we can just all get together and enjoy each others company and some good food thats enough, its plenty to be thankful for. I like to keep it simple. Simple is nice.
In the meantime I will be able to enjoy Ian being home on weekends. Whole, full weekends. We won't have any money to do things, but we will be home together. We don't live in a crowded noisy area anymore so we can enjoy each other in peace and out here in the country.
I do have a few things in mind for us to do weather permitting. Painting. So many things need painting outside. Ian hates painting...I don't mind it, I just don't have time most of the time.
Thanks for stopping by to see me, I really do appreciate all the visits :)
2 comments:
The best thing we ever did was to get out of the old Christmas rat race. No gifting at all, around here. And that's the way I like it.
The adults here don't exchange gifts either. We all enjoy each others company and spending time together. The children's gifts are smaller and less expensive and we spend time playing games and reading. So much nicer.
I remember as a child, my father was a leather buffer and every year, like clockwork, during the month of October the layoffs came and usually he was back to work late February to early March. I knew it was tough for my parents, but as a child, I loved having him home. :)
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